Executive Summary Overall Satisfaction Over nine-in-ten of patients from Australia (97%), New Zealand (96%) and Papua New Guinea (94%) were satisfied with most recent experience using their local ambulance service. Satisfaction among respondents with the Ambulance Service remained overwhelmingly positive across all services; 80% of Australian respondents and 85% of New Zealand respondents stated they were ‘very satisfied’; 16% of Australian respondents and 11% of New Zealand respondents were ‘satisfied’ with their most recent experience. Five of the eight Australian services demonstrated a decrease in NET satisfaction. This decrease was statistically significant in Victoria and South Australia. When comparing St John and Wellington Free Ambulance Services, those in Wellington (91%) were more likely to report being ‘very satisfied’ compared to St John (84%) services. Across all services, the proportion of respondents that reported being satisfied ranged from 94% to 98%. There were no significant differences observed with overall satisfaction when comparing the results between service regions.
Calls to the ambulance service 62% of Australian patients were connected to call taker quicker than they expected and 91% of patients found the call taker to be helpful & reassuring. Whilst experiences with call takers are largely positive, a decline in positive experiences with ambulance call takers was observed in Australia in 2021. Despite this decline, only 1% of patients found the call takers to be unhelpful, and 6% felt they waited for longer to be connected than they should have. Papua New Guinea registered improved results when comparing 2021 results with 2020, the proportion of respondents reporting positive experiences for the time taken to be connected and helpfulness of call taker increased. Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) patients in New Zealand found the call taker helpful and reassuring, a statistically significant decline of 4 percentage points from the previous year (92%).
Waiting for an ambulance Over half of patients across Australia (57%) and New Zealand (53%) felt the length of time they waited for the ambulance to arrive was quicker than they thought it would be. Across Australia, the proportion of respondents that reported the wait for an ambulance was quicker than expected ranged from 54% to 68%, with Western Australia reporting the most positive results. In New Zealand positive experiences with ambulance wait times decreased significantly in 2021 when compared to 2020, when a positive response of 58% was recorded. Papua New Guinea reported very positive experiences with wait times, 91% felt the ambulance arrived quicker than expected.
Provision of care 97% of Australian patients felt their overall experience of care was ‘good’ or ‘very good’. 3
The Council of Ambulance Authorities | 2021 Patient Experience Survey Report
